September 30th, 2009

Reports BBC News:

Social isolation may make cancer more deadly, US research on mice suggests.

Researchers found the social environment can modify the biology of the disease – and lead to significant differences in outcome.

Female mice stressed because they were separated from their mothers developed more and larger mammary gland tumours than more contented animals.

The University of Chicago study appears in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Previous research has suggested that social support can improve health outcomes for patients with breast cancer, while social isolation has been linked to an increased risk of death from several chronic diseases.

The Chicago team worked with mice genetically predisposed to mammary gland cancer.

They found changes in the activity of genes that play a role in tumour growth in the stressed animals, suggesting that they may have been directly influenced by surging levels of stress hormones.

Read more at BBC News.